Players in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker are getting disconnected from the game while watching the ending credits. After the final fight of each expansion, adventurers finish their final mission by talking to an NPC to wrap up the Main Scenario Quests (MSQ). The end credits play, showing key plot points and characters from the story. Recently, however, fans are missing out on the opportunity to relive their favorite moments because they are being kicked from the servers due to the 30 minute AFK timer.
[Warning - story spoilers from past FFXIV expansions below.]
By putting in ending credits for each expansion, Final Fantasy XIV has become an outlier in the MMO genre. Although they are out there, players will have a hard time finding another MMO that includes credits. Watching the ending scenes acts as a story timeline of major FFXIV events. Each expansion is given a definite end and is seamlessly bridged together to the next section with Post-Game MSQ. This flow, however, has been broken up with the recent release of Endwalker. The problem is prevalent enough for Game Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida to give a response on the issue.
A post on The Lodestone about current known issues was updated on December 5, 2021. In the message, Mr. Yoshida said that the development team had been receiving reports from players about "being automatically logged out during the ending credits of A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, or Shadowbringers due to 30 minutes of inactivity." Luckily, adventurers were not being kicked at the end of FFXIV: Endwalker. He mentions that there is a process missing from the end credits to prevent the automatic logout procedure. While seemingly small, this interruption from the story is an important issue for players.
FFXIV: The Issues Players Face By Being Kicked During Ending Credits
Like the rest of the series, Final Fantasy XIV is filled with stunning music that drives emotion. This, married with excellent storytelling, makes for one of the most compelling MMOs to date. The ending credits fill adventurers with a sense of accomplishment and pay respect to all those that worked on the expansion. By being kicked from the game, fans are dragged out of this special moment. They are forced back to the main menu and have to find other things to do while they wait in the queue again. This may not take long early in the morning or late at night when server congestion is typically lower, but at other times, the login process takes even longer because of the number of players waiting to get into the game.
Important plot points are presented during the ending cutscenes that are paramount to understanding the future story. In A Realm Reborn, the Eorzean Alliance and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn usher in a new Seventh Umbral Era. At the end of Heavensward, Midgardsomr travels to Ishgard with the Warrior of Light, starting the process to end the Dragonsong War after one thousand years. Ishgard also joined the Eorzean Alliance against the Garlean Empire. During the final cutscene for Stormblood, players witness Zenos Yae Galvus's "last" moments and Lyse declares freedom for Ala Mhigo. Shadowbringers ends as the Warrior of Light, with the help of the rest of the Scions, defeats Emet-Selch. Varis zos Galvus is also shown to be slain by his son Zenos Yae Galvus after he reclaims his body. All of this is shown in the final cutscenes and can be accessed in Final Fantasy XIV's free trial.
The ending credits act as a reprieve from all the hard work players put into finishing the expansion. For a focused adventurer, a story section could only take a couple of days to complete. For others, an expansion might take weeks or months to finish if they decide to do the additional content introduced. Each expansion introduces new Trials, Dungeons, and Raids that can occupy an adventurer's time. All the activities have a purpose and story. Players are made to feel as if they are a part of the game and the ending scenes show the impact they have made on the world. Unlike Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker's error code 2002 problem, there is a solution for players to not get automatically logged out during the ending credits.
FFXIV: How To Avoid Getting Removed During End Cutscenes
The final cutscenes of each expansion are filled with important details and, as a result, adventurers are asked to set aside a large portion of time before speaking to the last NPC. In the post from Mr. Yoshida, he asks "when viewing the ending credits for A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers, that players press a button on the controller, press a key on the keyboard, or click with the mouse." This will effectively reset the 30 minute AFK timer that automatically kicks players for inactivity. If the option to move from one scene to the next without input from the player is activated, this may seem counterintuitive. Each FFXIV expansion has more story in ending cutscenes than the previous arc, and adventurers can enable automatic mode to relax after their accomplishments. The notice also mentions that "moving the mouse cursor will not prevent automatic logout."
Unfortunately, there has not been any word as to when this issue may be fixed. Unless the server congestion subsides soon, the AFK timer will most likely stay in the game. This may not be ideal, but the alternative is longer queue times, and that would be worse for all players. Whenever an issue this prevalent occurs, the development team is usually pretty quick to implement a patch. Since the ending credits for Endwalker are unaffected by the 30-minute timer, a fix should happen in the near future. Players can most likely expect the issue to be resolved in Patch 6.01 or 6.05 at the latest. Looking at the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker roadmap, the first patch will be on December 21, 2021 and the second on January 4, 2022.
The newest expansion has hit a couple of speed bumps along the way, but the release has still been a major success. The rising popularity of Final Fantasy XIV with the Endwalker expansion has congested the servers, creating long queues. A 30-minute AFK timer was implemented to only keep active players in the game and adventurers are being kicked while watching cutscenes. Those points notwithstanding, the expansion has been extremely beneficial for the game and the genre as a whole. Players should not be discouraged by a couple of minor setbacks from experiencing the ending of one of the greatest stories in an MMO so far.
Source: FFXIV Lodestone